kickstarter

Surprise, surprise. Ryder Ripps, the artist known for his Donald Trump-like vacuous chest thumping and misogynistic paintings was interviewed last night as a Donald Trump supporter. His biggest concern? The wall between Mexico and the US. “I just hope they build it high enough,” he said. “Because people climb walls.” The artist then updated his Facebook to brag about duping a reporter into believing he was a Trump supporter when he actually supports Bernie Sanders. [The Guardian]

Dezeen is a blog we enjoy for many reasons, including their weekly round up of notoriously snarky reader comments. This one might just take the cake. Responding to a reverse-vaulted pizzeria interior, reader TFO remarked “I feel violated. Cis male architecture sitting on my face.” Architecture criticism is starting to look a lot like art criticism. [Dezeen]

Thinking of funding your brilliant project through Kickstarter? Maybe reconsider… factories in China are ripping off design ideas from the internet before they even hit their own production start. [Quartz]

So, that naked statue of Donald Trump mostly elicited plenty of laughs (and one high-profile theft) but when a similar sculpture of nude Hillary Clinton was erected in Downtown Manhattan this week it caused a minor violent street brawl. A National Museum of the American Indian employee (identified only as “Nancy”) toppled the sculpture by Anthony Scioli (maybe?) and enacted a pretty comical tug-of-war with the artist that ended with Nancy sitting on top of it. Of all the borderline hilarious/cringe-worthy confrontations this trainwreck of an election has stoked, this art fight is probably the most of both. [New York Daily News]

Bethany “Sick Din” Dinsick is seeking music videos from artists for a screening at Bushwick’s Otion Front Studios on November 1st. Email her submissions at bdinsick@gmail.com. [Facebook]

Can anyone else figure out James Bridle’s “Cloud Index”? The artwork/website maps cloud patterns to potential outcomes of the Brexit vote, and talks about cloud seeding as a form of propaganda, as well as cloud computing. It’s a really pretty website, but what exactly is the relationship between the clouds and the vote? It brings Spurious Correlations to mind. [Serpentine Gallery]

Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde’s smog-eating mini-tower has come to Beijing. In tests in Rotterdam, it sucked about 60% of pollutants from a small area, which were then made into jewelry. In far more polluted Beijing, however, data on its effectiveness won’t be made public. [Forbes] According to Chinese press, the tower (which is installed in the capital’s 798 arts district) hasn’t really impressed locals. [ECNS]

Amid investigations of corruption and money laundering, the US Justice Department has seized some pretty valuable paintings from Jho Low, an aide to the Malaysian Prime Minister. Now art dealer David Nahmad, of Monaco, is claiming a Monet in the collection actually belongs to him. Although he attempted to sell the painting to Low, and received a $2 million wire transfer, he reports that the deal fell through. This story ought to get juicier as it develops. [International Business Times]

Turns out there’s lots of poisonous heavy metals in paint. Not exactly a surprise, and the writer doesn’t seem to understand that while cobalt blue is more expensive and toxic than its cheaper cousin french ultramarine blue, there are actual differences in the color. It’s useful, though, because it does offer examples of colors made with heavy metals and their knockoffs. [The Observer]

Artist Menja Stevenson wearing a dress to match the bus seats. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Mind blown: the Olympics used to have medals for the arts!?! They stopped doing this in 1948, but how cool is that? [The Huffington Post]

If you want to watch the Olympics in virtual reality, you can, if you care about sports, own a $99 Samsung Gear headset, and download an app. [USA Today]

So the European Union has ruled that Dan Flavin’s sculptures are indistinguishable from light fixtures, and as such should be taxed at 20 percent, rather than the 5-percent rate for artworks. What? [The Guardian]

This cat is having a no-good, existential crisis kind of day after ripping up a balloon. [Imgur]

In our email inboxes: a note from SFMOMA that you can now purchase museum tickets online through January 2017. Are the lines really so long that tickets must be sought out so far in advance? Or does this just mean that museums are going the way of airlines, letting you plan out your vacation far, far in advance? [SFMOMA]

The Jewish Museum launches its first Kickstarter campaign today. The museum has set a goal of $30,000 for their fall exhibition, Take Me (I’m Yours), which will let visitors bring home artist-produced takeaways, like temporary tattoos by Lawrence Weiner or air dispensers (not sure what that will look like) by Yoko Ono. 400,000 of these small editions will be made in total. [Kickstarter]

Despite market turbulence, Sotheby’s actually saw an increase in year-to-year profits. This is mostly due to cost-cutting within the auction house. Sotheby’s CEO, Thomas Smith, identifies “a paradox” wherein there’s still demand from collectors for high-value works in a financially uncertain time, but that sellers are holding out and restricting sales volume because they believe this isn’t the best time to sell. Dear collectors, please consider putting more of that pent-up purchasing power into the primary market. [Business Insider]

Today marks the two-year anniversary of Michael Brown in Ferguson, and with it, the growth of #blacklivesmatter. [The Root]

This piece about why fabric on public transportation is so ugly is surprisingly a really interesting read. It even touches on the work of artist Menja Stevenson, who dressed herself to match different transit lines. [BBC]

The first issue of Art Handler Magazine looks different than any trade magazine I’ve seen. It includes an interview with Britton Bertran, the man behind Installator, a widely popular tumblr focused on images documenting the art installation process; a photo essay by Victor Hugo in which the tools of art installation become the work itself; and a how to article by Inball Straus that describes how a custom made clamshell shaped pouch helps protect irregularly shaped objects.

All of these articles focus on art handling in some way, but more broadly, labor as it exists in the market. These are great successes, but as a new independent publication, they still have many hurdles to clear. Number one is funding. I talk to Art Handler Magazine Founder and Editor in Chief Clynton Lowry about his new Kickstarter Campaign and the magazine itself.

A new critical approach to the artist Kehinde Wiley; he’s a jokester. “If reflection, recognition, representation—so often identified with Wiley’s work—comprised its entire attraction, I’d be grateful for its existence, in the same way that I’m grateful for the existence of, say, Tyler Perry. Mere existence is a real and valuable politics, one whose importance shouldn’t be underestimated. But this, for me, is where the difficulty starts with Wiley: If his paintings have any value as art qua art, that value lies in something else—his best paintings read as jokes. [The Awl]

A conceptual art project to destroy the “worst part of America,” Oklahoma, and replace it with a freshwater lake. [Kickstarter]

Postinternet public art comes to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. [Observer]

Activists intent on saving Sweet Briar College, a women’s college in Virgina, will now be installed as board members. Former board members who voted to close the college this past March, have already been purged. [Chronicle of Higher Education]

Ello, which debuted in 2014 as a serious competitor to Facebook, is now rolling out ads on Facebook. Some are totally creepy, and call out FB for its surveillance practices. [Tech.Mic]

Teenagers Internet tricksters never designed condoms that will change color when exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. [Hopes & Fears]

“Thanks to @facebook forcing me to use my real name, I am now at more risk of rape and death threats. But enjoy flogging that data, guys.” Journalist Laurie Penny got kicked off Facebook for using a pseudonym, even though she was doing it so that she wouldn’t get trolled. [The Guardian]

Two of the best GIF genres are puppies and futuristic shit. This GIF combines both. According to The Next Web, this sassy dachshund’s name is Lolli, and she’s wearing the Disco Dog LED vest. The $300+ pet accessory is controlled by a smartphone app using Bluetooth and raised $22,757 on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the project is producing more vests beyond the 45 manufactured for the original backers of the project. All other pet owners who want life to be more like a Daft Punk video, you’re out of luck.

ACRE, a summer residency held in Steuben, Wisconsin with an ongoing series of exhibitions in Chicago, Illinois, will move into a permanent space this September, to 1345 West 19th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Dog burritos. Corinna prefers the pug that looks like an Ewok. Paul prefers the puppy that is wrapped in an actual tortilla. Paddy wonders what the selection criteria we’re all using, and would agree with Paul if there wasn’t the worry that puppy could accidentally be eaten. Given that that’s the case, Paddy chooses the terrier wrapped in leopard print. [Sad and Useless]

After being cleared of phone-hacking charges, media maverick Rebekah Brooks is making headlines again. It is rumored that she will be rehired by Rupert Murdoch to head up the social-networking news site Storyful. Terrifying. [The Guardian]

What makes a movie bad ass? A thoroughly convincing essay on the subject. [The Weeklings]

Triennial reviews are coming out: AFC’s discussion of individual works includes this zinger from Corinna Kirsch “Panels leaning against pedestals. Where am I? An art fair?”. Over at artnet News, Paddy Johnson discuss the Triennial’s obsession with the figure. Holland Cotter at the New York Times says the show adds up to some of the most distinctive art of the past decade. Hyperallergic’s Thomas Micchelli finds the show lacks excitement, and its focus on technology given its ubiquitous presence “feels dated and even a little clueless.” Also at Hyperallergic, Benjamin Sutton found it too crowded. Art Agenda’s Andrew Stefan Weiner says the show looks like a Tumblr and has mixed feelings on its success. On the one hand there’s curatorial legerdemain. On the other, not all the works live up to artist and curator Ryan Trecartin’s example. ARTnews’s Andrew Russeth thinks the Triennial shows that “new ideas are on the rise,” and over at Christie’s, Brienne Walsh doesn’t think the show’s got enough cohesion. Given the number of cohesive moments identified by other critics, Walsh’s thesis is the most easily challenged of them all. [The Internet]

Paul Chan’s Hugo Boss Prize exhibition gets a nod from Holland Cotter at the Times. The reason why, though, remains a bit convoluted. “Mr. Chan’s work is always surprising and as smart as art gets, which means, among other things, that it’s smart enough not to always give us the art we think we want.” [The New York Times]

Yet another adventure in the life of the rich and famous. Swiss business magnate Yves Bouvier has been charged with fraud and money laundering for allegedly inflating the prices of Picasso, Modigliani, Gauguins; those works were then sold to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, who, if it matters to you, owns the Greek island of Skorpios, purchased from the Onassis family. [Luxembourger Wort]

In Bushwick, the Roberta’s Pizza Empire is crumbling. One of the three restaurant’s owners has split off, and is seeking $5.4 million for his stake in the company. [Brooklyn Magazine via New York Post]

Meet Andy Warhol’s family, the Warholas. They’re kickstarting a film called Uncle Andy—with your help! Now, for the low price of $2,500, you too can own a “Rusyn Tradition Decorated Ostrich Egg” painted by Warhol’s niece Madalen. Abby Warhola is apparently well trained in the art of the selfie. [Artforum]

Marina Abramovic is publishing a memoir. If you’re curious why the artist has decided to release a tell-all of her life in the former Yugoslavia, this is indeed about giving people “the courage to do the things they’re afraid to do in their own lives.” [Arts Beat]

Art Basel put together curated Kickstarter page for a bunch of non-profits, and the New York Times leads their story with the line: “One of the world’s most prominent art fairs is hoping to garner support for nonprofit art organizations by lending them some street cred.”

There are so many problems with the project and the coverage, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Have you ever wished that John Baldessari could be your art teacher? Well, now that he’s retired from both CalArts and UCLA, that’s not going to happen. But if you’re a teenage girl, the new organization School of Doodle might be able to help out.